Art F City at The L Magazine: 11 Rules To Live By

This week at The L Magazine I spend a bit of time parsing Tina Roth Eisenberg’s Rules to Live By. Eisenberg is the woman behind the design blog Swiss Miss, tattly, Creative Mornings and more. My own vary a little from the designer’s but not as much one might think.

1. Invest your life in what you love
This is a good one. I spend my days talking about art and never get tired of it. That means I often like to spend my evenings working as well, though, which doesn’t make me the most well-rounded individual. That’s fine by me—I’ve never had a diverse range of interests—but it does make cocktail parties with people outside your own field a challenge.

2. Embrace enthusiasm
When you enjoy something, shout it from the rooftops! This is particularly important for critics to remember, because we easily identify weaknesses. Celebrating what you love in public is essential to the sanity of any writer.

3. Don’t complain, make things better
This is not a rule I subscribe to. I think it’s important to complain, because you can make things better. Write a letter! Tell a friend! Tweet the gripe! But be specific. If you don’t like what you see or experience, it’s important to identify why. Doing so will allow people to respond in a way that’s meaningful as opposed to defensive.